With the proximity of 618, recently, Taobao and Tmall announced a series of rule changes for 618. The biggest change among them is the ban on the long-standing problem of private pre-sale, which has been going on for over a decade, and the hasty start of the merger is called the merger. Subsequently, there was no news of JD banning pre-sales.
According to Jiedian News, merchants can still choose to sell in the form of pre-sales, but unfortunately, they have no choice but to participate in the platform’s 618 campaign and lose the relevant support in a hurry.
A merchant expressed that the impact of this rule change on most categories is limited, with almost no impact on fast-moving consumer goods, daily necessities, etc. But the clothing dismantling industry, especially for original, customized, and handmade products, will have a certain impact.
In fact, in recent years, with the continuous evolution of the pre-sale system, the delivery time for consumers has become longer and longer, and users have been criticized for feeling satisfied. Platform owners have also begun to actively manage. But for the highly independent pre-sale service dismantling industry, the platform has no choice but to make a “one size fits all” decision, which is only a long-term process.
But the general trend is that e-commerce platforms are actively breaking the rules they have invented, allowing e-commerce to quickly evolve towards a simpler direction.
Pre sales were first introduced into the e-commerce category by Tmall. After the Double 11 shopping festival in 2012, Zhang Yong, the then president of Tmall, expressed his strong desire for pre-sale forms, stating that it was also in line with Alibaba’s strategic bias. Afterwards, pre-sales gradually became a standard feature for the e-commerce rush season, and the platform also achieved beautiful rush data one after another.
To this day, pre-sale has become a commonly used marketing tactic by businesses. If the consumer delays paying the department price, the merchant can deliver within the agreed time. This form of pre order delivery followed by delivery can assist merchants in delaying on-demand stocking and reducing logistics pressure.
However, Zhang Yong once acknowledged that in this form, “the shock to all merchants and property is far greater than the shock to consumers.”
A service dismantling merchant informed Jiedian News that service dismantling, especially female dismantling, will have a certain purchase rate, and the order speculation can provide important reference for merchants. “For example, if I submit 100 orders, I can deliver 60-70 items during the pre-sale period. Considering the purchase rate, this can meet my actual order needs and prevent savings.”
In the early days, in the field of Hanfu and designer customized small clothing, due to limited sales and high costs, merchants had no choice but to stock up in large quantities. The pre-sale system could also help them alleviate the tight schedule caused by orders.
But as the 618 and Double 11 fronts were dragged longer and longer, the pre-sale system gradually changed its flavor. A large number of users have accumulated complaints on social media platforms, saying, “A dress has to wait for a month, is it waiting for me to place an order before planting cotton?” “A small electrical appliance broke down at home and I want to buy it now, but when I turn off my phone and look around, the merchant has joined the Double 11 cycle and only presales without receiving goods. It’s really timely.”
Such effects are becoming increasingly common on e-commerce platforms, as users feel overwhelmed.
More seriously, the pre-sales on e-commerce platforms have exploited loopholes for some businesses. The analysis of the 2023 National Consumer Association’s construction and praise situation led by the China Consumers Association indicates that the pre-sale form of e-commerce platforms urgently needs to be standardized, and the results of the “last payment” price drop being not sincere, pre-sale products not guaranteed, promised gifts not realized, promised time not to receive goods, and the “lowest price” promotion not being true.
The e-commerce industry is also gradually dissipating changes. In the past three years, Alibaba’s stock price has been continuously declining, and even surpassed by Pinduoduo at one point. As Cai Chongxin, the President of the Alibaba Group’s Board of Directors, recently stated in an interview, the crux of Alibaba’s mistakes in the past few years has been its neglect of user satisfaction, which has led to the company’s backwardness. “We smashed our own hands.” Domestic consumption has become a shopping mall for buyers, and buyers control their voice. Coupled with intense cooperation, platforms can only strive to win the favor of users.
Ali finally saw these achievements and started to follow the rules he invented. The above service provider informed the boundary news that the platform had begun to limit the time of picking up goods before the Double 11 last year. Taoxi cut the maximum pre-sale time from 45 days to 30 days, and Tiktok also banned 45 days of pre-sale, leaving only 15 days.
This can be considered a landmark point in time, since then, the industry has begun to integrate stock planning. However, the reality is that many service providers are simply unable to satisfy the effect of receiving goods. “Many Tiktok merchants are unable to survive in this volume, so the platform has left an opening.”
The rule that can be found on Taobao earlier is that on December 27, 2023, Taobao issued a notice stating that it did not integrate the minimum effective time for merchants to receive goods. The minimum time for daily women’s clothing, accessories, bags, and shoes is 15 days. Stage dismantling, uniforms, wedding dresses, etc. shall not exceed 30 days; Hanfu clothing must not exceed 45 days.
An electrical appliance merchant told Jiedian News that from the logic of the platform, banning the pre-sale system has many benefits. In addition to beautiful numbers, the user experience of spot goods will definitely be better, the user conversion rate will improve, and the merchant’s order rate will also decrease.
However, for service dismantling businesses, the interests of this sector have no choice but to expose the drawbacks. “The service dismantling category always needs to have a high procurement rate, especially for female dismantling merchants. Those who are not hungry, only those who are in stock and ready for production, have failed inventory management and have an impact on subsequent operations. Pre sales can assist merchants in stopping inventory control management.”.
In order to compete with inventory performance, department merchants will eventually abandon original content and create some popular and niche products. From the perspective of users or product richness, it may not necessarily be a merit.
However, the trend of banning pre-sales on online platforms is almost certain. Recently, Wang Shan, the person in charge of Taobao’s clothing and accessories, also made a clear public appearance. In the future, the platform will balance more capital with merchants with “new” and “fast” talents.
In other words, businesses can only survive the fittest.